Dir. Christopher Nolan
Writ. Chirstopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, David S Goyer
Act. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gylenhaal

The words great performance and Heath Ledger I thought would never come out of my mouth. But after watching him in this film, he truly turned in one of those performances of a lifetime that is greatly unique and quite possibly the best that anyone has ever performed on the screen. While his untimely death is unfortunate, his last performance will surely live on for as long as there are movies to watch and people to enjoy them.

Batman, played by Christian Bale (3:10 to Yuma,) and Commissioner Gordon, played by Gary Oldman (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,) join forces with new Gotham D. A. Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart (The Black Dahlia,) to fight crime and a particularly menacing and mysterious bank robber known only as the Joker, played by Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain.) As the Joker gets more devious and his attacks more elaborate, it becomes clear that Batman must not only face the evil that is the Joker but the dark side that is in himself in order to slowdown and stop the man who wishes to destroy him.

The movie begins and ends with Heath Ledger. He was quite simply amazing. He had every detail of his acting down in terms of voice, movement, look, and made this comic book villain very, very, real. There were several instances where it was the minute detail of his performance that made him so real and believable. Two that stand out the most was when he was walking out of the hospital in a nurses uniform and he was walking in a sadistic, dainty way moving his fingers, and then grabbing the trigger of the bomb and fumbling with it trying to push it in, and doing it several times, looking at it in a peculiar, almost cute, insane way as it didn't work initially. The other scene is when he is driving the police car away from the prison during a Batman voice-over. He had this look of freedom, and joy, that is indescribable but both scary and comforting all at once. He didn't say a word but his face said a thousand. The scene with the Joker when he slowly convinces a disfigured Harvey Dent to become Two-Face is equally as powerful. To be honest, I don't know a scene in which he wasn't powerful in his role. I truly cannot compare another character performance to Ledger's.

The rest of the cast almost pale's in comparison. Both Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine seem to phone in their performances. Maggie Gyllenhaal was dreadful every time she was speaking and actually made me miss Katie Holmes. Aaron Eckhart did not understand the character of Harvey Dent, even a reinvented one, and was disappointing in the movie. Perhaps most disappointing was Christian Bale. I thought he was the star of Batman Begins and in this one he seriously lost his karma, or aura, or whatever you want to call it. His Batman "voice" was an annoying whispering scream that bordered on ludicrous. As Bruce Wayne, he seemed to forget that he is a womanizing philanthroper who shouldn't be running around holding a torch for a woman that rejects him because she can't handle his alter ego. Just not what I expected from him this time around.

The story was very well conceived in every aspect regarding the Joker. No details were given about whom he was, why he became that way and didn't offer any as the time went by in the movie. He was unknown murder with a hatred for Batman, and left me wondering, happily, whom he was and why he was this way. No explanation, no reasoning, almost pure evil, a Joy to watch. To Ledger's credit, he embraced the writing and definitely made it his own character. The director could have shortened the movie, as long as he didn't cut out any of the Joker scenes. But when The Joker wasn't in the scene, the movie felt long.

I loved this movie. It isn't the best movie I have seen this year and shouldn't be nominated for such when it comes Oscar time. But, Ledger should get every award possible between now and then because he truly made a mark in cinema that will not go away in my lifetime.

Brian - the Naked Gun